History & the Khmer Rouge: Behind the smile of survivor Em Chhart

She has been working for the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-CAM) for 28 years now. Everyone at the office loves and respects her; she is always cheerful and energetic, but behind her big smile lies another person deeply affected by her experiences under the Khmer Rouge regime. Em Chhart, also known as ‘Oum/ming Chhart’ by DC-CAM staff, is a 61-year-old survivor of the Khmer Rouge.

Em Chhart

She is a widow, mother and grandmother, and currently works as a cleaner at DC-CAM. Everyone knows her, but no one really knows about the suffering she endured under the Khmer Rouge regime.

When Pol Pot's forces came to power, Louk Yeay Chhart was only 13 years old and was forced to leave her home in Arey-Ksat with her mother, father and three other siblings. Throughout the interview, she repeated several times:

‘I hope nothing like this ever happens again. You hear people of my generation talk about the Khmer Rouge, but you can't even begin to understand how terrible it was unless you experienced it yourself,’ she confided.

She believes her experience was much worse than that of the rest of the population because she was in Battambang. The region was known as one of the worst places to be during Pol Pot's regime, as it was where the Khmer Rouge sent city dwellers. They wanted to see them suffer and force them to work in extreme conditions.

Tears begin to roll down her cheeks as she recalls that time. She remembers everything that happened during that period perfectly. She remembers living in a small house with ten other families and not really having anywhere to sleep. She remembers suffering from hunger and receiving only one grain of rice per meal. She remembers that when the water trucks passed by, people would open their mouths to catch the small drops of water that escaped from the truck because they were so thirsty. She remembers everything.

During the conversation, she mentions that she would save her food for her parents, and that they would do the same. She also remembers the time she was forced to leave her home. She had to flee in the middle of the night, without even being able to take a pair of shoes, because the Khmer Rouge were eager to capture her before she could be rescued. Some managed to escape to the river, but others were shot before they could reach the water.

She says that under the Khmer Rouge regime, work was assigned according to age and gender; she was assigned to build the dam, where she worked on a three-by-six-metre plot with three other children. She remembers that some people got up early to go to work and were bitten by snakes.

What she told me next is by far the most painful memory and experience she had under the Khmer Rouge regime. She remembers the soldiers telling her family that they were going to take her brother away first to build them a new house in another village. But her brother felt that he would never return. So he asked the soldiers for some incense sticks, said goodbye to his parents and left.

She cried for him as they dragged him away. Her family had never been separated before, and it was then that she realised that things were changing. After that, she kept moving from village to village, hoping to find her brother, but village after village, she found no trace of him. The first time she heard about her brother was in Arey-Ksat.

Her parents had learned that her brother had arrived in Prek Por, but no one knew if he was alive. Until one day, one of the prisoners in Prek Por was released and came to see them. Her mother asked him for news of her brother, but he pretended not to know, wanting to spare them the pain of learning that their son and brother was dead. She begged him to tell her until he gave in. Her brother had committed suicide because he had lost all hope of ever leaving Prek Por. This memory haunts her forever and, even today, she cannot forget.

She still thinks about her brother from time to time and misses him terribly. Throughout the interview, every mention of her brother brought tears to her eyes. Listening to her story and learning about her life under the Khmer Rouge regime, everything seemed hopeless, and seeing the person in front of me, it is hard to believe that she is the person she is today after such a traumatic experience, especially at such a young age.

It's really different from any of the stories I've heard before. She still can't forget the painful experiences she went through under the Khmer Rouge regime. When she thinks about those bad memories, she says it's like she's back there; she can see and feel everything. It's like she's reliving those nightmares.

By Nut Kosoma

Volunteer, Cambodia Documentation Centre